Trump sentencing; TikTok ban; California wildfires : NPR

Good morning. You are studying the Up First e-newsletter. Subscribe right here to get it delivered to your inbox, and listen to the Up First podcast for all of the information it’s essential to begin your day.

At the moment’s high tales

Firefighters had been in a position to sluggish the unfold of wildfires in Los Angeles yesterday after the Santa Ana winds eased, permitting crews to drop water from above. Red flag warnings, which point out {that a} mixture of heat temperatures, low humidity and robust winds is predicted to intensify the hearth threat, have been prolonged by means of right now. At least 10 people have died and hundreds of buildings have been destroyed in Pacific Palisades and different affected communities.

• 🎧 NPR’s Greg Allen tells Up First he spent yesterday within the Altadena neighborhood of Los Angeles, the place he talked to Teandra Pitts, whose home caught fireplace. She returned to salvage what she may and was shocked to search out her door was kicked down and the place ransacked. Looters took her household’s issues, together with her son’s sneaker assortment. The Los Angeles sheriff has promised to crack down on looting, and communities are imposing a curfew. President Biden says California Gov. Gavin Newsom has assured him that mills are being deployed to provide energy to water pumping stations.
• ➡️ Jinghuan Liu Tervalon packed just a few keepsakes and garments earlier than evacuating her Altadena residence, considering her household would return the subsequent day. Now, the house is gone.
• ➡️ See earlier than and after satellite tv for pc pictures displaying the California wildfires’ destructive force.

President-elect Donald Trump will take a fast pause right now from his transition to energy to attend his prison sentencing in Manhattan. He was convicted final 12 months on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to hide a fee to an grownup movie star. With a slender majority, Supreme Courtroom justices declined to provide Trump a last-minute reprieve. The previous and future president is unlikely to face punishment, however he may have a prison document, which he can try and enchantment.

• 🎧 NPR’s Ximena Bustillo says it is key to notice that Trump was one Supreme Courtroom justice away within the vote from not having to be sentenced right now. He has tapped a number of of his private attorneys on the case to hitch his subsequent administration, together with John Sauer, who appealed the case to the Supreme Courtroom. Trump has vowed to enchantment the case, however some ethical questions remain over his lawyers’ ability to take action if they’re confirmed to serve within the government department.

At the moment, the Supreme Courtroom will hear arguments over whether or not TikTok ought to be banned within the U.S. Legal professionals from the China-based viral video app’s authorized staff and the Justice Division will make their respective instances. The oral arguments are available in gentle of a legislation handed by Congress and signed by President Biden that set a Jan. 19 deadline for the app to dump its U.S. operation or be banned over nationwide safety considerations.

• 🎧 TikTok argues that shutting down the media platform violates the free speech of the U.S. operation and the thousands and thousands of People who use it each day, says NPR’s Bobby Allyn. The app’s attorneys are anticipated to argue that it has labored to distance itself from its mum or dad firm ByteDance. In the meantime, the Justice Division’s response is predicted to be that something lower than a whole separation is not sufficient. A ruling is not anticipated right now, however the court could delay the law’s start date. Allyn says the Supreme Courtroom is making an attempt to make sure People should not silenced but additionally safeguard in opposition to attainable covert affect from China.
• ➡️ Here is how TikTok creators are preparing for the possible shutdown of the app within the U.S.

25 targets for 2025

Cannot resolve on a decision for 2025? NPR’s Life Equipment has skilled guides to make any objective a actuality. We’ll share just a few of them each week this month. View all 25 guides here.

Continuously aiming to make different individuals joyful can come at a excessive worth. When certainly one of your high priorities is to be preferred, you could discover you are not in contact with what you want. Individuals pleasing is not reserved for pushovers; perfectionists are inclined to do it too. However it is a changeable behavior. Here are some tips:

• 💖 Be aware of how typically you say sure, no or perhaps to a request. How did every request make you are feeling? This could reveal the sorts of requests which may trigger you nervousness.
• 💖 Attempt documenting your power stage and your calendar. Assess your time earlier than taking up new obligations.
• 💖 Begin to study when requests align along with your values or make you are feeling good versus once they really feel like obligations.

Life Equipment has a number of extra guides that will help you navigate relationships in 2025. Try a few of them right here:

Weekend picks

Ben Whitehead as Wallace in Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl.

Netflix

conceal caption

toggle caption

Netflix

Try what NPR is watching, studying and listening to this weekend:

🍿 Films: Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl is the most recent movie within the stop-motion animation sequence. Inventor Wallace and his pooch Gromit are coping with a robotic backyard gnome, Wallace’s newest invention. The journey contains having to face down a military of evil robots.

📺 TV: Medical dramas, Westerns, cop exhibits and documentaries are simply a few of the choices for the start of the 12 months. Here is a list of returning and new series so as to add to your watch record.

📚 Books: From fiction to nonfiction, listed here are 10 books hitting the shelves soon that you just may wish to add to your to-be-read record.

🎵 Music: With the Grammys looming, Billboard‘s charts see one other huge week for the standard suspects: Kendrick Lamar, Sabrina Carpenter, Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish. However, listed here are a few of the fresh faces gaining momentum on the charts.

❓ Quiz: The quiz is again and I began the 12 months off proper with an ideal rating. Do you suppose you may sustain with that momentum? Give it your best shot.

3 issues to know earlier than you go

A yellow northern cardinal, seemingly born with a genetic mutation that impacts one in one million birds, based on the Nationwide Audubon Society.

Taka Yanagimoto

conceal caption

toggle caption

Taka Yanagimoto

1. A cardinal with a uncommon mutation has been photographed in St. Louis by Taka Yanagimoto, the director of images for the St. Louis Cardinals. This male specimen displays yellow feathers as an alternative of the standard purple. (through St. Louis Public Radio)
2. At the moment, after 17 years, co-anchor and Hoda & Jenna co-host Hoda Kotb will make her final appearance on NBC’s Today present.
3. Lebanon’s parliament appointed Joseph Aoun, the pinnacle of the armed forces, because the nation’s subsequent president. The place has been vacant since October 2022.

This article was edited by Suzanne Nuyen.